Why did throwing decline in popularity in recent times?

I’d like to know why has throwing became less popular at the turn of the century?

I think it’s hard to measure whether it has become less popular or not.

There are a lot of hobbies and activities people can take so yoyoing is simply one choice in many.

We have more options than ever to occupy our time and always hobbies peak, decline and then peak again. I believe our hobby is as strong as it ever was and will continue so.

Why do you think it declined?

Yeah there was a boom and a bust in the 90s. But in the early 2000s things picked up again.

Actually I think your post would have been more effective if you have reversed The question you have in the subject Box with the question you have in the text Box.

Subject: I’d like to know why throwing became less popular at the turn of the century?

Text: Why did throwing decline in popularity in recent times?

The interrogatives then at least follow a more logical chronological flow.

How did you come to have this awareness?

From reading… in conversation… ?

Just curious

Regardless of past-tenses and timelines; if forum activity is an indicator; it does appear that there is a bit of a slowdown in yo-yo related activity as of late. Maybe everyone is on facebook, Instagram and reddit now? These seem, however, to have less activity too.

Is this the case? Or am I just imagining things?

I don’t think you are imagining it. Doc and I were just discussing this the other day.

We think forum activity, in particular quality forum activity, has dropped off a little of late.

The barometers I can think of:

*forum/social media
*Sales
*Participation at local events and worlds
*Media coverage

Like many activities, popularity probably comes in cycles. Where the activity is now I have no idea.
From a retailers point of view, sales trumps all I suspect.

Also it is a good point about the boom in the 90’s, with newer yo-yo design and great innovation both in yo-yos and technique.

Once a certain level is achieved, pushing the creativity barrier gets harder, and many of those early innovators have moved on. This more or less explains the “spike” in interest, but economics often has more than one factor, and sometimes totally unexpected.

Reminds me that “Freakanomics” is a good read if you haven’t been exposed to it yet. Total speculation, but video games probably hurt and help at the same time. At first there would be a decline in interest in a yo-yo or skill toy, but a rekindled interest when people miss an activity without a controller such as a board game or a skill toy as a pastime.

ps- totally off the top of my head Not an expert on this topic.

pps Didn’t Duncan visit schools a lot? Do manufacturers still visit schools and youth activities often? Yomega does or did…

I remember trading 200 yoyo’s in 6 months on another website, the website also had 1 million posts in 3 years in 2011 and YYE just past 1 million a month ago. You couldn’t have a throw on the bst for more than a day and you would resell for over MSRP. Definitely a slowdown, way slower. Around the same time I miscellaneously would see people throwing on the streets, not now. Look at swimbait fishing fishing for Bass now, same thing is going on there that used to go on here, it’s cycled up.

Yoyo-related traffic on social media and Youtube seems pretty steady. Gentry Stein was featured in a (really really terrible, but somewhat mainstream) music video. If anything it seems like interest in yoyoing in general is trending upward. The good folks at YYE could tell us how sales are doing…that’s the real indicator of interest.

It’s hard to gauge this, especially at a moment when the yoyo community is so dispersed across different social media platforms. Forum activity decline a couple years back, and then started to pick up again, but clearly most of the activity is happening elsewhere. Also, there’s a ton of people who go to clubs and contests but who don’t participate online … All of which is to say, it’s really hard to tell.

The yoyo boom of the late 90s is interesting to think about, since it was the last big resurgence. What happened there, and why? Our pal @Tvelto at Throws n’ Brews has a great video on this